That is great, thank you so much. To be honest I was looking at Villa Vignamaggio because they also had accommodation so it would have been easier for the tastings. Do you know how people get around to the tastings if they are not staying on the vineyards?

The reason that I ask is that Castello di Verrazzano have a tour with lunch and wine on Saturday which we are really keen to do. However as Tom and me want to both sample the wine, we are not sure how people get to Castello di Verrazzano if they are staying close by. Would you know the best way?

Thanks, J

We had a wonderful afternoon at Verrazzano with Gino as our guide. The wine and food at lunch was so very good we still talk about it 5 years later! Although we had other accommodations in Greve, I did note that Verrazzano does have apartments and some rooms.

http://www.verrazzano.com/en/rooms/

At Vicchiomaggio you can reserve your wine tasting by calling or emailing them. For the reservation they request a deposit. At Vicchiomaggio they organizes different tours, such as Tuscan lunch at 55 euro per person including lunch and wine tastings, tasting experience 25 euro per person.

The Castello da Verrazzno offers accommodation too. They have a farmhouse renting rooms or apartments about 1 km from the castle itself. Driving is certainly the best solution, but you can get the bus SITA that stops at the shop along the road and from there walking about half an hour to the castle. On the bottom of this page you find useful texts explaining how to reach the castle.

Hope it helps :)

We've done both and very much prefer Vignamaggio. In fact, we reckon the tour we took there was one of the best we've done in the Chianti plus you get the additional bonus of the beautiful gardens. We only do the tour though, never the add on food option for we tend to find it's just as good value eating elsewhere, not at the vineyard. (And that's the case virtually everywhere, not just here.) Both markets are nice experiences though both quite different. Greve on Saturday is your typical Tuscan small town market with clothes, household goods as well as some food. Panzano on a Sunday is predominantly, if not exclusively, food.

I'm not fond of either. Instead, I recommend Fattoria Montagliari for a much more "real" experience. Both Verrazzano and Vicchiomaggio are big (for the area) operations, with the result that the tastings come off as canned. Montagliari is owned and operated by a family. Their wines are very good, they are friendly and hospitable people. They don't charge for the tasting and you can eat a delicious and reasonable lunch on their patio. What more could you ask?

Fattoria Montagliari sounds like something we'd enjoy when we are visiting in June - bookmarking for future reference. Thanks, imprimatur!

You will have a good time at either. They are both fairly accustomed to providing a pleasant experience to visitors.

My own preference for a wine tasting near to Greve would involve a short walk up the hill to Montefioralle at this lovely little vineyard-

aziendamontefioralle.com/degustazioni.html

It would be a 15-20 minute walk, or if you were to ask they would probably pick you up from Greve.

We have visited both Vignamaggio and Montfioralle wineries, and both on the same day. We did the tour with lunch at Vignamaggio, and like lastraniera we thought the tour was one of the best we've been on - and we volunteer at a winery here in the US so it takes a lot to impress us. Most of the other tours we took in Tuscany were repetitive and we wished we hadn't booked the tour. At Vignamaggio the passion for winemaking was very obvious. The lunch was also one of the best meals we had in Tuscany.

Montfioralle winery is a small, family owned winery and it was a nice contrast to the bigger Vignamaggio. Our tasting "room" was outside among the vines on a beautiful spring day, truly one of the most memorable tastings we've ever had anywhere.

We loved Vignammagio and the wine tour was excellent. You get a tour of the vineyard, gardens, winery and house before sampling the wines and vinsanto, all of which was really well explained.

Have a look at Kenneth Branagh's Much ado about nothing which was filmed in the gardens

www.youtube.com/watch…